New Beginnings
by Titanium Heartache
Summary: When Loki falls from the Bifrost, he lands in a world very similar to Midgard but with a few differences. But when things go wrong and old enemies have new plans, the exiled god must join his new allies to get rid of evil.
1. Chapter 1

**_Summary: When Loki falls from the Bifrost, he lands in a world very similar to Migard but with a few differences... _**

**_Thor/Young Justice Xover. Old team. Because it had to be done. :) _**

_**Chapter One **_

Memories flashed through Loki's mind, zipping through his head as the glittering colors of the world he grew up in fell away. They were mostly of his brother; Thor smiling, Thor eating, Thor breaking things—Thor doing everything, really. They were all from when he was younger, when he still thought himself an equal. When he was still happy. And then the shadowy mists of the ether closed over him, obscuring his view of his home for the last time, and his consciousness faded away.

* * *

Loki blinked his eyes open to find himself on a small but comfortable white bed, feeling weak but otherwise unhurt. Looking around, he realized he was in an infirmary of some sort. But that made no sense; he clearly remembered falling off the Bifrost into nothingness. So how had he ended up here?  
The metal door slid open to reveal a man dressed in a black, skintight suit and cape. Over his head, he wore a cowl with horns pointed skyward. He did not appear to be wearing any armor, which struck the god as odd. Loki reached for his magic in case the visitor was hostile, only to find it was weaker and harder to use, much like it had been when he was—  
His breath hitched in his throat as he caught sight of his form in the steel door that slid shut behind the man. It was how he had looked when he and Thor had been close friends and brothers, from the time he had been remembering as he fell. Had those memories somehow triggered his shapeshifting abilities? After all, much as he was loathe to admit it, he did not have a firm handle on that particular skill set yet.  
"Hello," the man spoke in a deep, scratchy voice. He had not moved from his position by the door after coming in, and had seemed to analyze Loki's expressions.  
"Hello," Loki replied shakily, fixing his green eyes in the holes of the man's black cowl. "Who are you and what are you going to do to me?"Loki refrained from asking where he was, much as he wanted to; it would do no good to divulge that he was lost. He suspected he could be in Midgard, but he wasn't entirely sure.  
"I'm...Batman," the man said, shaking his head slightly as if he had expected to be recognized. Loki wondered briefly if he was the king of this land, then shook that thought away. "All we want is to heal you, and to see if you have any meta abilities. We detected some unusually high readings when you fell in front of our mountain." So they had some sort of device that could sense power levels (as Batman probably meant by 'meta abilities', Loki reasoned, though he wasn't sure), and Loki had landed in front of some mountain, near or in which, he supposed, he now was.  
Loki looked down at himself. Besides the change in his age (he was only a few centuries old now), his clothing was the only thing different about him. Instead of the gilded green tunic and cape ensemble that was his usual wardrobe, he was wearing a strange, loose-fitting greet shirt with short sleeves and slightly bluish pants made of an odd material. His magic was still too weak to change his clothing as he usually could; at this point in his life, he had only been able to create small, insubstantial objects, a single, weak duplicate of himself, and teleport short distances. His healing magic, however, had always been a strong, natural thing, so that was unaffected, which was good. "I am healed now. So what will you do to me?" he asked.  
Batman tilted his head. "Healed...? Impressive. If you would accompany me, we will have a little talk to see who you are."  
Loki rose, shaking his head to clear the dizziness, and walked over to Batman, who snapped a pair of handcuffs on the young god's thin wrists 'just in case'. The tall man then led his small charge into a room devoid of all furnishings except for a desk and two chairs. The door slid shut behind them with a resounding clang. Batman sank in one chair and gestured for Loki to sit in the other. _This is an interrogation_, Loki realized. It was quite obvious the man had no idea who he was and was simply taking precautions to see if he was hostile.  
"Let's begin," Batman said simply. "Who are you?"  
"Loki," the god replied, not bothering to come up with a fake persona.  
Batman seemed unfazed. "Last name?"  
"No," Loki responded without missing a beat. It was true, in his mind, anyway; he had no idea what to call himself. He was no longer Odin's son—the old god had made that much clear at the end of the terrible battle on the Bifrost—and he would be dead before he thought himself son of that horrible monster who'd sired him.  
Batman just nodded. "Where are you from?"  
Loki knew he couldn't say the truth, so he said the first Midgardian place that came to mind. He had already determined this was Midgard, albeit a different place Thor had been sent. "El Paso, New Mexico."  
"Age?"  
Loki thought for a second. The Midgardian equivalent of his current appearance was... "Sixteen."  
Batman nodded and scribbled something on his paper. "What is your power?"  
Loki noticed how he'd said 'what is your power' and not 'do you have any powers'. He'd obviously inferred that Loki had somehow gone from New Mexico to wherever they were now. Obviously, he was a long distance away from where Thor had been. Good. However, Loki was not about to simply tell this man everything he could do, so he replied, "I don't know yet."  
Batman cocked his head. "All right. Wait here a moment." He got up and left the room, returning a few minutes later with a pale, redheaded girl wearing a strange assortment of pink and white clothing. They shared a glance, and then the girl sat in the unoccupied chair while Batman stood by the door. The girl leaned across the table and lay her hands gently on Loki's head. He immediately pulled away. He knew this pose; he'd used it himself far too often to count. It was how he read people's thoughts.  
The girl smiled gently, taking his resistance as uncertainly. "My name's Megan," she said in an overly cheery voice. "I won't hurt you." Then she lay her pale hands on Loki's head and closed her eyes in concentration. When she opened them, they were glowing. When Loki felt the tendrils of Megan's mind, he was ready. He'd pulled out a few of his memories that didn't involve anything specific to do with what he was trying to hide, and altered them to fit in with the bits and pieces of modern Midgardian culture he knew from Thor so that it looked like he had a normal, if eccentric, family and life. Then he crafted a memory in his head of a terrible fire sweeping through his happy home, burning everything in his path, and him trapped in his room, terrified out of his mind as the flames creeped closer, and then the burning room folding around him and then waking up here. Yes, that was believable. So, armed with these false memories, Loki was ready for Megan when she invaded his mind. If he had been at full power, he could have looked into her memories without detection while feeding her the false ones, but in his weakened state, he was only capable of the latter.  
"You poor boy!" Megan exclaimed as she withdrew from his mind. Good; the false memories had fooled her. With a sad, apologetic smile, Megan got up and went over to Batman, obviously to report what she'd seen. After a short conversation, she returned.  
"Um, we, the Justice League, have a team that..." The redhead trailed off as Batman shook her shoulder.  
"The Justice League has a team of younger heroes to go on covert missions. I believe they can help you find your powers," the dark-clothed man summarized. He obviously expected Loki to know what the Justice League was, so Loki didn't bother to ask. He'd find out later. As for this team...Batman had mentioned they were considered heroes, so it wouldn't be a good idea for him, a monster, to be a part of it. Still, it would probably be the easiest way to fund out what he needed to know, like where he was, exactly, and how to return his appearance to its former, older state. Batman unlocked the handcuffs still binding Loki's wrists and Loki stood, rubbing his wrists where the metal had chaffed them. The tall man lay a hand on Loki's shoulder and shoved him less-than-gently forward through the door, Megan following close behind. The trio walked through several hallways, all with the same featureless metal walls, until they reached what seemed to be a gathering place of some sort built directly into rock, as evident by the fact the walls were rock themselves. The room was devoid of any furnishings except for a raised dais in the center and a row of circles inscribed with some kind of swirling pattern along one wall. Batman put a hand to his ear and murmured something. There was a blur, and a boy with hair redder than Megan's materialized in front of them. He had large green eyes and freckles, and wore a strange white shirt and the same odd blue pants most of the Midgardians Loki had seen while watching Thor wore. His smile was lopsided and he had a joking air about him. Loki immediately disliked him, though he wasn't sure why. After about a few minutes of awkward silence, a group of other teenagers walked into the room. There was a tall, muscular boy with black hair and startling blue eyes, and his shirt had an 'S' inside a shield. Beside him was a smaller boy, also with black hair, who wore a black and white ensemble and a pair of dark glasses, the reason for Loki couldn't fathom. After them came a tall, dark-skinned boy with a shaved head and sea-blue eyes. Next to him was a tall, girl with a faint tint to her skin and grey eyes. Her blonde hair was longer than Loki had ever seen hair before, even on women. Behind the two of them walked a shorter, dark-haired girl with pale blue eyes. Loki, sensing magic on her, smiled slightly. Megan giggled and jumped into Loki's line of sight.  
"This is the team!" she exclaimed giddily. "Guys, this is Loki. He has some super powers, and needs our help to find out what they are! Loki, this is Wally—" the redheaded boy nodded at the god with a self-satisfied smirk, and Loki inwardly rolled his eyes. "—This is Conner—" the muscular boy with the 'S' on his shirt gave a small wave. "—This is Robin—" the smallest boy grinned widely. Loki wondered how old he was. The boy seemed young for crime fighting, so this must be some kind of special circumstance. Maybe he was the one that organized things but didn't participate. Like Loki. Loki began to take a liking to the small boy. "—This is Kaldur, he's the leader—" the dark-skinned boy nodded. "—This is Artemis—" the blond narrowed her eyes in suspicion, glanced at Batman, then gave a tiny wave. "—And this is Zatanna!" the girl Loki had sensed magic on waved, and Loki allowed a small smile to slip through. So they had a mage. Good. This would make things a lot easier. Batman began to speak, breaking Loki out of his thoughts. He told the teenagers how Loki had appeared out of thin air in front of Mount Justice (which was, Loki gathered, the mountain they were currently residing inside). Then, as the black-clothed man went on summarize what had happened after Loki awoke, the god allowed his mind to wander. He'd always been good at sensing the general power levels of other people; just from observing, he could see that Zatanna was the only mage in the team. Kaldur had some magic, but it was tied to an element, which was too limited and uncontrollable to be of any use to Loki. Wally had some sort of magic, but it seemed more like the magic he'd observed Jane doing; the magic Midgardians called science. This type of magic was chaotic and vastly unexplained, so Loki held no interest in it. Megan's magic was tied to her self; she could do simple spells and read minds, but could do nothing to help Loki. Conner's magic was of the same sort, but weaker and blocked by some sort of shield. If Loki got to know Conner well enough and was feeling particularly giving, he may help the boy breach that shield and reach his full potential. Maybe. Robin and Artemis had no magic whatsoever, Loki realized with surprise. It made no sense that they would be in this team, but he supposed they had their reasons.  
After Batman ended his synopsis of the recent events, Artemis spoke up. "How do we know we can trust him?"  
Batman nodded at Megan, who smiled sadly. "I looked through his mind. He never had any knowledge of power, and his family was normal, but then...there was a fire, and he got scared and teleported here. Batman's instruments picked up that he has high power levels, but he doesn't know what he can do yet. His past was that of a normal civilian, and I looked through all his memories." Artemis nodded in understanding, but Loki had to stop himself from laughing. Either he'd done a better job than he'd thought, or Megan was very unobservant. His hastily crafted cover had worked perfectly.  
"So...what now?" Wally asked awkwardly.  
"Test him to see what he can do," Batman replied and then, with a sweep of his cape, he slipped away.  
"Hey," Robin said, stepping up to Loki. "I like your name. You got a last name?"  
At Loki's shaking head, he scowled. "Everyone's got a last name. You had a regular childhood; obviously you have one." "  
I didn't. Please stop asking," Loki replied. This was a large tear in his carefully crafted plan; he was undermining his 'normal' past by having no last name. Well, he could probably still play this to his advantage. "I—my family's gone. I don't have a..." He trailed off with what he hoped was an appropriate amount of depression. Robin put a hand on his shoulder and turned to the others, who were standing awkwardly by the door thy had entered.  
"C'mon. Let's get Loki acquainted with what we have here. He'll be feeling the aster again in no time." With that, the small boy sauntered off into the connecting room, a living room, after his teammates, leaving Loki standing slightly dumbstruck in the entryway.  
"...Aster?" the young god whispered.

**_Just a combination of my two favorite fandoms...nothing special... Still, I hope you liked!_**

**_Please review!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Robin showed Loki into the kitchen and then on to the rest of the cave, as he called their residence inside the mountain, while the rest of the young heroes stayed in the living room watching TV. As Loki followed the boy, he marveled at the technology the Midgardians had invented; in the absence of magic, they had been quite inventive.  
After seeing a multitude of small, unimportant rooms, a large open space, which seemed to be the port or something, and the kitchen, Robin rejoined his teammates in the living room, leaving Loki standing awkwardly in the kitchen leaning against the counter that divided the two rooms. The strong, dark-haired boy—Conner, Megan had said his name was—lifted up what appeared to be a blunt, black stick and pointed it at the obsidian square in the wall. What Loki had originally taken to be a strange decoration suddenly flared to life with a multitude if moving figures. The picture was of a tall, slender, redheaded woman waving her hands and speaking with gusto about something called a 'vacuum cleaner', an odd cleaning utensil the god didn't find impressive in the least. Random numbers and strange words flashed below, encouraging the observer to buy the ridiculous object because of its low price. Loki refrained from calling attention to his surprise at the device, but was unable to hide a look of confusion. Robin, who'd glanced at the guest to see if he wanted to join the team in the living room, misread the look of confusion.  
"Hey, Supey, see what's on," the young boy said, vaulting over the back of the couch to sit by his friend's side. The older boy did as asked, pressing the button to reach the guide. The moving picture shrunk to the corner, revealing what appeared to be a timetable. Highlighted was a long bar titled 'The Hunger Games'.  
"Hey, I saw that movie!" Wally exclaimed. "It was pretty good."  
And so the group settled down to watch it. After the first few scenes, Robin, annoyed that Loki was being antisocial, got up and physically dragged the god over to the couch, where he was shoved into the empty space between Conner and Kaldur. Loki could have easily kept the boy from laying his mortal hands on him, but had refrained. Being with this team, he felt included. He didn't watch the movie; not only were the moving pictures disorienting, but he was determined to enjoy this inclusion, because once they figured out who he was, he'd be on his own again.  
All too soon, the movie was over, but nobody wanted to go anywhere. Loki was feeling slightly hungry, but he didn't want to leave his spot on the couch. This feeling of acceptance, of friendship... Even though it was built on a lie, it was still a great feeling. How he'd missed this. Long ago, when the crown was still so far away, he'd had this relationship with Thor, but once the older god found friends who shared more of his interests than his studious brother, it was all over.  
But now this strange team of powerful mortals had accepted him into their group, even though they had known him for about two hours. Yes, Megan had rooted around in his mind (or so she thought), but still.  
"Hey," Robin said suddenly. "Loki. Let's go test out what you can do."  
The rest of the teens agreed, and so Kaldur led the group through a few winding hallways to the large, empty room where Loki had first met the assembled team. Robin slipped on a black glove and began to furiously poke it, something that struck Loki as strange.  
Then, suddenly, the raised dais in the center of the room lit up, shining bright and ghostly in the once-dim room. Several glowing blue rectangles appeared in thin air around the dais and sat, appearing to be waiting for something. Loki couldn't sense true magic; it was science, like Wally's speed and the TV.  
"Okay," Robin said, stepping onto the dais and facing the team as if he were the leader. "Where would we start?"  
"I can sense magic on him," Zatanna spoke up. "I'm not that good at it, but the magic's so strong I have no choice but to sense it."  
Loki almost gave her a nod of admiration for figuring that much out but stopped himself just in time.  
"So you should test him," Artemis said, waving a hand dismissively. She, along with the rest of the team except for Zatanna, retreated from the dais to give the two magicians space. Loki grinned, but it was a mixture of excitement and a bit of malice. This was the perfect opportunity to show off his powers and put these mortals in their place—  
No, no, no. They'd been accepting of him, inclusive. If he even suggested his true nature, he'd be cast out like a piece of trash. And he was happy to be here, he realized. There were students of magic that would appreciate what he could do—  
But wait. He'd told them he didn't know what he could do, so he wouldn't be able to show his true power. Well, he'd said he didn't know what he could do, so he could take that as meaning he didn't know what it was _called_... Yes, that was it. He could to small things, and if he needed to do something larger, he could say it was an impulse.  
"Okay," Loki said, turning to Zatanna, who was smiling sweetly at him and inserting an appropriate amount of uncertainty into his voice. "What do I do?"  
"Well," she replied, extracting a long, black stick with white tips from a hidden pocket. "Have you been able to do something...unusual?"  
At Loki's confused frown, she turned away from him and pointed her stuck at the empty air in the center of the dais. "Kcor a htrof gnirb!" she shouted, and a squat rock, approximately the size of Loki's hand appeared. Tuning to her pupil with a small smile, she recited another spell: "Ikol ot og!" The rock levitated gently in the air and flew towards Loki, who reached out a hand to catch it.  
To the others, Loki's pondering expression was because he was examining the rock and how the spell had worked, but in reality, he was pondering Zatanna's magical prowess. As expected of Midgardians, she required incantations, but the ones she had uttered were not the ones he had used in the long-ago time when he'd needed them. If he was correct (and he probably was), she was speaking backwards. First she had said, "Bring forth a rock!" which had resulted in the rock's appearance. Then she had told it to "Go to Loki!" and it had. Loki disliked incantations, as he found them useless. If one does not word things correctly, things go downhill fast. But with the thought-driven spells, it was easier to control, as thoughts know your exact preference. It seemed Zatanna had either just begun her training or Midgardian sorcerers were weak. Considering Zatanna's place on this team, he suspected it was the latter.  
Loki did not require incantations, but if he was to keep up the guise of ignorance, he would have to use some. He tossed the rock off to the side, tapped his chin in thought, and then stretched out a hand. "Kcor a htrof gnirb!" he shouted, just as Zatanna had done. A rock appeared in front of him and he was met with a round of applause. This surprised him; he was unused to being praised for his skills and it felt great. He was actually beginning to wish he had lived Midgard instead of Asgard. He knew he liked it better here. Another thing that surprised him was that the rock was substantial. At this point in time, things he created hadn't been, but perhaps the incantation had boosted his power. If so, he could use incantations to use to substitute for missing power, but if—no, _when_ he returned to his true form, he would no longer need them.  
"Good job," Zatanna said with a small smile of pride. "Now, send it to me."  
"Annataz ot og!" Loki told the rock, and it gently flew through the air, avoided the girl's hands as she tried to catch it, and alighted on her head. Robin and Wally burst out laughing, and even Zatanna couldn't contain an amused smile. Loki smirked slightly.  
Suddenly, a disembodied voice said something about flashes and then a letter and a number combination. One of the odd circles in the wall lit up a bright orange, causing Loki to jump. First the vague outline and then the rest of a tall man in a red, skintight outfit appeared in the room. The god was surprised; the circles bore a striking resemblance to the Bifrost. He decided he disliked them.  
"Hello, hello," the man was saying. He seemed agitated, jumping from foot to foot, surrounded by the same energy that powered Wally, the electronics, and, now that he thought about it, the circles as well.  
"What's up, Unc—" Wally began, cutting off as he remembered the guest. Sure, Megan had assured them Loki was clueless as to who the younger heroes were, but, unless he lived under a rock (and even then, Wally supposed), he would have heard about the Justice League, and it wouldn't be good to disclose their identities.  
The red-suited man, confused by Wally's abrupt stop, followed the boy's gaze and caught sight of Loki for the first time. "Uh, who's this?"  
"That's Loki!" Megan exclaimed, skipping up to a spot next to the man. "Loki, meet the Flash!"  
"The Flash?" Loki commented dryly under his breath. What a silly name. Even Batman, which had been a weird name, was better than this.  
"Hi," the Flash said to the boy, then promptly ignored him, turning instead to the rest of the team, sans Zatanna, who was still next to Loki. "Listen. Bats has a mission for you, but it's top secret. We'll have to go to the—" The Flash broke off, glanced at Loki, then amended with, "—our base."  
"What about Loki?" Kaldur asked. "He has no knowledge of his powers yet, and would be a burden. We cannot simply leave him here alone—"  
"I'll stay with him," Zatanna interrupted. "I can teach him some more magic."  
"Another magician? Great! Let's go," the Flash said in his usual fast-paced speech. "You can suit up when we get there." He lead the group to one of the circles, and they disappeared exactly like Loki, Thor, and Thor's friends had when they used the Bifrost. Loki felt a sudden pang of longing, but pushed it away. He hadn't belonged, even then; Sif and the Warriors Three were Thor's friends, and they only tolerated him when his magic was useful.  
"So," Zatanna said slowly, turning to face the god. "What do you want to do?"  
Loki suddenly felt a strong sensation he had no name for. Zatanna had given up an opportunity to adventure with her friends to spend time with him. He was so, utterly grateful he felt he couldn't keep secrets from her any more.  
"I...have something to tell you," he said haltingly.  
She blinked, confused. "Um, okay. What?"  
"I can do magic," the god explained. "I know how to heal and teleport and duplicate myself and cast illusions."  
Zatanna's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "And you didn't tell us before because...?"  
"I was confused," Loki muttered, feeling a flutter of shame in his chest. "I'd never teleported so far before. I could never go farther than from one room to the next. I didn't know who you were."  
"Now you do." The suspicious expression on Zatanna's face didn't change. "Couldn't you have told us earlier when we were actually _doing_ magic?"  
"I don't know!" Loki clutched his head in agony, conflicting thoughts fighting in his mind. One one hand, he knew he was superior to these worthless beings and they didn't deserve his trust. On the other hand, they had accepted him and befriended him and included him and trusted him. Tears sprung to his eyes as the thought of being lost and alone, with no one at his side, invaded his mind. "I'm just—I'm all alone and—and I wanted..." He trailed off as strong arms wrapped around him. Zatanna apologized, saying she hadn't meant what she said, that she'd forgotten the ordeal he'd just been through, that she'd forgotten he'd just lost his family. Loki turned away, embarrassed that she saw him cry, but couldn't help leaning into her embrace. It had been so long that someone held him like that, and he missed it. Things would have been different if someone like Zatanna had been there when he found out he was a monster.  
That just made things worse as he remembered that what Zatanna knew of his past was a lie. It was based off the truth, but was still a lie. Zatanna didn't know he was a monster. She didn't know he'd tried to kill an entire race. She didn't know he'd attacked his own brother. She didn't know how he'd let go of the only thing keeping him tethered to his world at the two words the man he had thought was his father, the man he'd tried so hard to prove himself to, time and time again, were uttered with disappointment. She only knew about a mortal boy whose family just died in a fire.  
Zatanna held Loki close until his tears dried, and then she smiled kindly at him. "Do you want to show off what you can do?" she whispered. It was a nice gesture, encouraging the boy to feel better by showing off. But Loki didn't want to be reminded of his lost family, and magic would do that.  
So he shook his head and asked hesitantly, "Can we maybe watch TV instead?"  
"Um, okay," Zatanna agreed, placing a gentle hand on the young god's back and leading him back to the living room. As they sat in companionable silence broken only by bursts of laughter at the antics of a talking sponge, Loki felt like he had a family for the first time in a while. Not a family that only pretended to be his, but a _real_ family. Even if it included only a single person.

That was how the rest of the team found them when they returned from their mission: sitting together on the couch, watching Spongebob.  
"Hey," Wally said, vaulting over the back of the couch and hoping to land on the seat next to Zatanna only to miss and fall onto the ground. As everyone laughed, Robin vaulted over the back of the couch as well, landing neatly next to Loki. Wally glared at his friend.  
"What occurred in our absence?" Kaldur asked, settling in his favorite chair.  
"Yeah, I thought you were going to teach Loki magic," Artemis added, slumping onto the arm of the couch. Megan and Conner squeezed together on the other chair, and Wally picked himself up off the floor and sat in his intended place next to Zatanna.  
"Well," Zatanna began, but glanced at Loki before going on. She wanted to know if it was okay to tell the rest of the team what he'd been hiding, and for that Loki was glad. He nodded, and the magician went on. "Loki, um, can already do stuff. He was just scared because, you know, his family had just died, so he didn't tell us before."  
Artemis narrowed her eyes. "And how do we know he's telling the truth? Megan read his mind and said nothing about powers." Megan's brown eyes, wide with confusion, supported her friend's point.  
Zatanna frowned and turned to Loki. "That's right. You never showed me that you could do what you said, and Megan did read your mind."  
Everyone's suspicious looks bored into the young god, and he clutched his head. This was Asgard all over again: everyone he trusted, or thought he trusted, suspicious of his power, hating him, abandoning him, cutting him out, ostracizing him. He felt tears prickling the edges of his eyes again, but this time he refused to let them fall. That had been a moment of weakness; it wouldn't be repeated. Furiously he glanced around, looking for an escape route, only to find none as the team surrounded him, saying things he didn't catch, too caught up in his inner turmoil as he was. With a final cry of anguish, Loki gave up on trying to salvage his cover, and teleported away. To where he did not know, only that it wasn't the Cave.

Loki found himself in a strange room full of scientific devices. A couple of mortals in white coats were fiddling with instruments, but only one, a tall, older man with pale hair and a small mustache, noticed him.  
"Look what we have here," he said, thin lips curling into a sneer. He lowered his arms from where they had been crossed across his chest.  
Loki didn't see the man behind him before it was too late and he was shocked with thousands of volts of electricity. The young god crumpled, eyes rolling back in his head as the world faded into blackness, but not before he caught the logo on the man's shirt his movement had revealed.  
_Cadmus_.


	3. Chapter 3

"I guess he wasn't lying." Conner was the one to break the awkward silence that had developed after Loki vanished, and the others were grateful.  
"I feel really bad now," Zatanna said dejectedly, hugging her arms to her chest. "Loki trusted me, and then we stabbed him in the back."  
"He's obviously not who he says he is, though," Artemis put in. "He couldn't be some normal citizen if he tricked M'Gann like that. He probably made the whole thing up."  
"But why?" Wally wondered.  
"Perhaps he was a talented magician sent to infiltrate our team," Kaldur suggested.  
"That makes no sense whatsoever," Robin said, crossing his arms. "He wouldn't reveal his secret at all, and wouldn't tell us he has magic. There has to be another logical explanation for why he gave M'Gann false memories."  
"I don't think his memories were false," Zatanna murmured quietly. Immediately, the team spun to look at her.  
"What do you mean?" M'Gann asked. She was utterly confused by this whole thing. She knew everything there was to know about telepathy; her uncle had made sure of that. So how had the boy's false memories slipped past her detection?  
"I mean that he might have hidden his powers from M'Gann, but the part about his family dying is true." At her teammates' confused glances, Zatanna went on. "He was, um, crying when he talked about them. But he wouldn't like it if he knew I told you, so just don't bring it up."  
Robin rubbed his chin. "Maybe he's being bribed. Maybe someone has his family and they're forcing him to do their work. Maybe all that was him trying to tell you."  
"That's very logical, actually," Wally commended.  
"It actually is," Artemis added. "It makes the most sense out of all the theories. Let's go with that one."  
"We can get the full story when we find him," Kaldur suggested.  
"That's just it," Connor spoke up. "How _do_ we find him?"  
"I'll try to locate him telepathically," M'Gann said, standing up. "I think I know his mind..."  
She trailed off as her eyes began to glow, signaling her search had begun.  
After a few minutes of tense waiting, M'Gann closed her eyes with a sigh.  
"Something's blocking me. I can't find him."  
"Zatanna?" Artemis asked, turning to her friend. "Can you locate him with your magic?"  
"I have gotten better at locating spells," the magician mused, standing up and leading her teammates over to the floating globe used for that exact purpose. Just as she opened her mouth to begin, the zeta tubes announced Batman's arrival.  
"We have a mission," the dark knight said, cape swirling around his ankles.  
"We're busy," Zatanna retorted, gesturing at the globe. Then, fixed with a stern Batglare, she amended weakly, "But it can wait. What's the mission?"  
"Disturbance at a Cadmus facility," was all Batman said. He swept out of the room without another word.  
Zatanna glanced between the globe and the doorway Batman had just gone out of, torn. With a sigh, she went to change into her costume and meet her teammates at the bioship.

* * *

As M'Gann expertly steered the Martian vessel through the sky, Wally leaned over to Zatanna.  
"Hey, you alright?" He asked.  
"I'm fine," the magician murmured unconvincingly.  
Wally frowned slightly. "You still shaken up over what happened with Loki?"  
Zatanna turned from where she had been sitting with her face pressed up against the window and looked up at Wally, blue eyes boring into green. "I'm worried about him. He's probably lost and alone somewhere, scared whoever made him do this will come and find him."  
Wally lay a hesitant hand on the girl's back and smiled gently. "Let's get this over with quickly so we can get back and find him, okay?"  
Zatanna gave him a small smile of gratitude and returned to her place at the window.  
"We're there," M'Gann announced suddenly, landing the ship. With a heavy heart, Zatanna disembarked after her team.  
As they were walking towards the facility, Kaldur hung back by the magician's side.  
"It's okay. We'll find him," the Atlantean said with a soft, kind smile. "Just keep your head in the game during the mission all right?"  
Zatanna nodded gently at the leader, and rubbed her hands together. As Wally had said, the sooner this was over, the sooner she could get back to looking for Loki.  
"M'Gann, Conner, Artemis, you will aid me in patrolling the perimeter and aboveground levels of the compound," Kaldur instructed. "Zatanna, Robin, Wally, you will search the below ground levels for the 'disturbance' Batman told us about."  
"Yeah, about that," Wally spoke up. "What, exactly, are we looking for?"  
Robin checked the holoscreen on his glove. "Batman's instruments picked up a huge spike of power here. Like, superhuman power. He didn't get anything after that first spike, so that's why he's sending us and not the league, but it's still a huge spike."  
"Is it like the spike Batman picked up when Loki appeared?" Zatanna asked quietly.  
Robin's eyes widened under his mask. "Uh, yeah, actually." At Zatanna's suddenly hopeful look, he went on ruefully, "But don't get your hopes up. Batman's stuff can't tell the difference between individuals' powers, only the energy level."  
"Oh. Okay," Zatanna whispered, face falling. Wally gently lay a hand on her shoulder, for once refraining from making a cheesy comment. With a small smile of his own, Robin led the trio into the building while the others dispersed. The interior of the Cadmus building was dark and cold, the only light being the small glow caused by Robin's glow stick; not even outside light shone in. With the help of Robin's maps he'd gotten from hacking into the system earlier, they quickly located the elevator. Of course, it was jammed. Wally spent several awkward seconds trying to force it open, then stepped aside, face flush with embarrassment, to let Zatanna cast a spell. With a few words, the doors slid open seamlessly, and they crowded into empty shaft. Robin cast a beam of light inside, checking the location of the elevator (it was at the bottom, unless there were undocumented floors) before firing a grappling hook into the eaves. Rope secure, he swung down to land with a soft tap on the roof of the elevator, Wally and Zatanna on his heels.  
"According to the map," Robin whispered, "the disturbance came from the bottom floor. So, here." He gestured down at the elevator.  
With the limited glow of light they had, it was difficult to locate the hatch to open the elevator, but Wally found it eventually by almost tripping over it. Robin gave the hinges a dash of oil in the event they may creak, and eased it open. Zatanna brushed by the pair of boys and dropped silently inside, ignoring the small, indignant noise made by Robin. As she had earlier, the magician used her magic to open the door of the elevator, and by the time Robin had retracted his grappling hook and he and Wally followed her through the hatch, Zatanna was already through and was checking to see if the coast was clear. As a matter of fact, it was, something that struck the magician as off. There should at least be a guard or something to patrol the corridors. Something was definitely wrong here. Robin and Wally didn't notice, apparently, and Robin was swiftly on Wally's back. They were gone before Zatanna could make even a warning noise.  
With a small sigh, she reasoned they would contact her through the mind link or the comm. link if anything went awry. Zatanna cast a small spell to give herself a little light to see, and started in the direction her teammates had gone. She hadn't gone more than five steps when a presence made itself known at the edges of her mind. Knowing it was Wally or Robin or even someone outside, she let them in.  
_It's me,_ Robin's voice said in the magician's mind. _Wally's coming to get you. There's something you need to see__._  
True to Robin's word, Wally was by the girl's side in seconds. Without a word, he hoisted her onto his shoulders and they were on their way. In no time at all they had joined Robin into a shadowy alcove overlooking what seemed to be a large gymnasium, cluttered with various scientific instruments. Various scientists milled around, checking things and making adjustments, but the main focus seemed to be an operating table in the center of the room. Scientists crowded around it, so many that the three heroes couldn't see the subject of their excitement, only a single, pale, hand draped limply over the edge.  
Involuntarily, Zatanna shivered.  
"Can you make us invisible so we can see who it is?" Robin whispered in the magician's ear. With a small nod, she did just that.  
"We have to stay close," she whispered in warning as Robin prepared to vault off and disappear as he always did. "I can't hold it up if you're too far away."  
Robin swore under his breath, but stayed where he was.  
As one, the heroes inched down one of the metal staircases lining the room. Robin furiously typed at his wrist computer, and, just as they reached the edge of the mob of scientists, a red alert light went off on a device on the other side of the room. All scientists except one hurried off to fix it, and Wally swiftly knocked the young man remaining out.  
For the first time, the heroes laid eyes on who the scientists had been surrounding. It was a young boy, obviously a teenager, with a familiar head of black hair. Even with his eyes closed, Zatanna knew who it was, and accidentally dropped her invisibility spell in shock.  
Loki.  
He was surrounded by medical instruments on small, metal tables, but his skin appeared to have no scratches or bruises. He seemed unconscious, but the magician noticed how his eyes moved steadily under his eyelids, and inferred he was pretending. His arms and legs were bound with tight, leather restraints, and he had a Belle Reve inhibitor collar around his neck. He wore a hospital gown and socks. Robin reached a hand out and shook the boy, and his emerald eyes flew open. They focused first on Wally, who was leaning over him. With a jolt, Zatanna remembered Loki had never seen the older boy with his mask on.  
Loki tore through the restraint on his left arm as if it were made of paper, and his hand was around Wally's neck before the speedster could come out of his shock. The grip wasn't strong ebough to cause harm, but was enough to keep Wally where he was. Zatanna stepped forward to reassure the other magician, but Robin caught her and dragged her away.  
"He's confused right now. Not thinking straight. When he calms down, you can go to him. I'll keep the scientists entertained," the boy whispered. He was gone before Zatanna could reply.  
"St-stop," Wally managed to get out around the hand crushing his windpipe. "It's me, Wally."  
"Lies," Loki hissed. "You are another fake. But you shall be the last." He tore his other arm and legs free of the remaining restraints, and waved his free hand. Instantly, the torn restraints shivered and glowed gold for a second. When the glow cleared, four green and black snakes slithered in Wally's direction. The speedster squeaked in fear. Loki removed his hand from Wally's neck and backed away, crossing his arms. A dark, half-crazed smile spread across his face.  
"You will not best me this time," the boy hissed. "I am a _god_."  
Zatanna, stepping forward to confront Loki and disregard Robin's instruction, froze. Since when had the boy had a god complex? It had not been more than an hour since he'd disappeared from Mount Justice. That was definitely not enough time for the sweet, confused young boy to turn into this madman. Something else had to be going on.  
Loki brought his hands together in a grand gesture, his already too-wide smile spreading. When he separated his hands again, they contained a blue square, swirling with silvery power. As a magic user herself, Zatanna noticed how he slumped slightly as the spell weakened him, but none but a magician would notice. Wally glanced up from where he was swiftly dispatching the snakes; after his hand going through one vanquished the illusion, he had realized they were not real and had made short work of the other three. He opened his mouth to ask what Loki was doing, but then the young magician somehow activated the thing he held in his hands. Ice spewed out, swiftly engulfing Wally. His eyes widened before they, too, were frozen over. Zatanna dashed put from her hiding place, and Loki spun to meet her. He lifted his device and froze as his smile dropped and recognition spread across his face. The magician herself froze as she got closer; in the dim light of her spell, it seemed Loki's skin had turned blue with ridged markings making spiderwebs along his features and red eyes. She increased the light, momentarily forgetting the scientists still in the room. With a jolt of surprise, the magician realized Loki's change wasn't a trick of the light; he really was blue.  
"Yes, this is my true form," Loki hissed. Standing close as she was, Zatanna could see the telltale glint of tears in his eyes. "Laugh if you wish. You can see how you were right; I am a _monster._ Not a god at all. But I am not weak, not worthless, and not a stolen relic!" He clutched his device closer to his chest with each word, fighting the tears simmering at the surface.  
"I don't think you're a monster," Zatanna told the boy quietly, stepping hesitantly forward. Loki swiftly raised the blue box to point at her, and she stopped her advance.  
Before anything more could occur, the scientists noticed them. With a shout of "Hey!" a mob of scientists ran toward the heroes and Loki. With a feral snarl Loki spun to meet them, brandishing his device in front of his chest. As with Wally, ice spewed out of it in a steady stream, drenching people and instruments alike in a frozen coating. A crack sounded from behind Zatanna and she turned to see Wally had broken free of his icy prison. He glared at the back of Loki's head. With a wave of his hand, the younger magician vanished his blue box in the same manner he had called it forth.  
"What on earth just happened?" Robin dropped into the center of the group from wherever he'd been lurking. "What are you, Loki? You were normal before, and now you look like you have Methemoglobinemia—"  
"Metha-what?" Wally asked.  
Robin waved a hand dismissively. "Rare skin disease that results in blue people." Then, turning back to Loki, "Anyway, so then you did all this stuff with ice. Don't hate me for this, but what are you?"  
Loki mumbled something that sounded like "Frost Giant."  
"You're a what now?"  
"I am a Frost Giant!" Loki yelled. "Is that acceptable? Now you know I am a monster, a freak."  
"You're not a monster or a freak!" Zatanna insisted.  
"Yeah," Wally agreed. "Like Robin said, apparently there are blue people. You're just... Well, not like that, but similar, I guess."  
But Loki was shaking his head. "Mortal fools, you would never understand. With your pathetic, short existences, you give too much meaning to insignificant things. You are too short-lived to know the expanse of this." He gave a short laugh that, like his earlier smile, seemed half-crazed.  
"Um, you're calling _me_ short-lived? I'm sixteen. You're, like, thirteen," Wally retorted.  
Robin was furiously typing on his wrist computer. "Dude, Loki just called us mortals. That implies—" He broke off mid-sentence, eyes widening.  
Zatanna glanced at Loki to see how he was reacting, and noted with a jolt of shock his skin had retuned to it's normal color. He caught her gaze and gave her a look that clearly asked "What?" The magician shook her head.  
"How familiar are you guys with Norse myths?" Robin asked quietly.  
"We're covering them in school right now," Wally replied.  
"Yeah, I just learned about them last month. Why?" Zatanna added.  
"Can you list the royal family of Asgard?" Robin asked, staring at his wrist computer as if it was telling him the day of his death.  
"Well, there's Odin, Frigga, Thor, Baldur, and—" Wally broke off, eyes widening and head snapping around to look at Loki. Zatanna had come to the same realization a bit earlier and had glanced at Loki to see his reaction. As the speedster had listed the names of what seemed to be his family, his face had clouded with anger, but now it simply looked confused.  
"Who in the nine realms is Baldur?" he asked.  
"Um, your younger brother," Robin replied as if it should have been obvious.  
"I have no younger brother." A crease formed between Loki's eyes as the boy frowned.  
"How did you know he's this mythical god-person?" Wally asked Robin.  
"Despite the fact he called us mortals and actually said he was a god," Zatanna supplied. Wally stuck his tongue out at her.  
"He mentioned Frost Giants, and I remembered we're learning about that aspect of Norse mythology in school. I looked it up to check," Robin explained.  
"Now that you know everything about me," Loki spoke up, "What will you do to me?"  
"Get back to the Cave, I guess," Zatanna suggested, looking at her teammates and receiving nods in return. "Should we tell the others about this?"  
Wally and Robin said "Yes" at the same time Loki said "No". At their confused looks, he went on, "You found out by circumstance. I would prefer my identity remain a secret."  
"If this backfires, I am totally blaming you," Wally retorted, grudgingly agreeing. Zatanna glanced at Robin, who shrugged; after all, no one knew his real identity except probably Wally.  
"Wait." Robin's exclamation stopped the group as they turned to return the way they game. Robin typed something and the inhibitor collar around Loki's neck that everyone had forgotten about until now popped off. Loki nodded his thanks, rubbing his neck.  
"By the way," Wally began, falling in step next to Loki as boy—no, god—followed Robin and Zatanna back to the elevator shaft. "You must be, like, a thousand years old. Wouldn't you be older?"  
"Eight-hundred-seventy-four, actually," Loki responded proudly. "And my aged changed from a spell."  
Wally shrugged and the pair stepped onto the elevator after their two companions. Robin fired his grappling hook into the air and hoisted himself up. Zatanna wrapped an arm around Wally's waist, punched him when he made an inappropriate comment, and used a spell to fly up to the still-open door on the ground floor. She and Robin looked back down the shaft to ask Loki if he needed help getting up, only to see he wasn't there.  
"I am here," a quiet voice stated from behind them. The trio of heroes spun around to see Loki standing in the dim light of the emergency lights as if he had been there the whole time. Teleportation. Of course.  
As the foursome walked back through the empty hallways to reunite with the rest of the team, a grin broke out across Wally's face. Zatanna, who was walking next to him, asked, "What's so exciting?"  
"We have a Norse god with us," the speedster said as if it had just occurred to him.  
"No," the magician replied sarcastically.  
Wally took a few seconds to scowl at the girl before continuing, "This means I won't fail History again."

* * *

**_Sorry for the wait. Life happened._**

**_Methemoglobinemia is a real genetic disease that results in blue, usually found in the Backcountry (i.e., Appalachian mountain area) of the US. I had just learned about it in school and my mind blew. I swear, I am not making this up._**


	4. Chapter 4

The reunion at the Bioship was no more than a small exclamation of surprise at the identity of the person Batman's instruments had picked up. Wally, Zatanna, and Robin had no chance to explain what had happened underground before Batman was ordering everyone back to the cave for an emergency meeting.  
As the team returned as asked, they each took a moment to welcome Loki back and apologize for being mean earlier. Their sentiments brought tears to the young god's eyes, and it took much of his self control not to hug them. He felt his small family had just gained a few more members.

* * *

Batman cut straight to the chase when Loki and the team entered the cave. He pulled up a picture of what had once been a normal city block but that was now torn in half by what seemed to be a tear in the fabric of the universe. Through the crack was swirling darkness that Loki was all too familiar with. The Void.  
"According to the data we've collected," Batman was saying, "this leads to another dimension, or something on a higher plane of existence. Only one thing came through so far, but things will probably come out soon, so stay away." Batman pulled up another picture, this time of the creature that had come in from the Void. Loki frowned. It seemed to be vaguely humanoid, with cloth wrapped around its eyes and most of its body. He did not recognize it, but had a strange feeling as if he'd met it before, somehow.  
"What _is_ that?" Wally gasped. Loki shook his head slowly, as mystified as the team.  
Suddenly, Batman's earpiece dinged. He listened for a few moments, then turned to the team. "There's more stuff coming out. A ton of creatures with machinery. Like an army or something. The League needs backup." Batman broke off awkwardly, glancing at Loki. Obviously, he wasn't sure what to do with the boy.  
"I can fight," Loki insisted, narrowing his eyes. "Let me help."  
Batman looked torn for a moment, but then relented. Time was of the essence, and the League seemed to need any backup they could get. "You're going to need to change," the cowled man said finally, gesturing at Loki's hospital gown.  
Megan gently took the young god's arm and led him into a side room. She pulled a uniform off a rack and gave it to the boy. "It's one of Robin's," the Martian explained. "You're about the same size."  
Loki nodded and she left as he changed. The uniform fit perfectly, but he still felt a bit silly as he placed the accompanying mask over his eyes.  
When he emerged, Robin burst out laughing. At Wally's punch he shut up, but still smiled goofily. Loki just glared, although the effect seemed to be lessened by the sheen over his eyes.  
"Go," Batman ordered, gesturing at the Bifrost-like circles.  
Just as Loki had suspected, the feeling was exactly like being on the Bifrost, except that he was surrounded by science, not magic. In no time at all, they had reached their destination: Manhattan, in a place called New York City. (Wally complained that every evildoer tried to take over Manhattan, but Robin shut him up by beginning to rattle off a list of villains who frequented Gotham but went nowhere else.)  
The city was utterly silent. Unnaturally so. Loki shaded his eyes with a gloved hand, glancing around. As far as he could see, even stepping out of the alleyway they had arrived in, there was no sign of life, human or otherwise.  
"Split into teams of two, then spread out and help any Leaguer who needs help." Kaldur was whispering despite the emptiness of the place. Loki sidled over to Zatanna, but she was already standing next to Robin. Kaldur walked over to stand by Loki's shoulder. "You have the least experience in battle, so I will aid you." The young god almost laughed. He had the most battle experience of anyone on this team; even though h had never been much inclined to fight until recently, he had still lived in a warrior society for almost a thousand years.  
Wally caught his eye and they shared a silent look of mirth.  
Wally, Artemis, Conner, and Megan went left, so Robin, Zatanna, Loki, and Kaldur went right. Kaldur took the lead while Zatanna and Robin hung back by Loki's sides.  
"My costume suits you," Robin said with a smirk, "but I totally look better in it."  
The young god laughed. "Well, it is /your/ costume, after all. I have my own, and if I could access my full power, I would definitely be wearing it instead of this."  
Robin gave him a playful punch in the arm.  
"So," Zatanna spoke up, "do you recognize that think the came though the...thing?"  
"No," Loki admitted, "but I do recognize where it came from. It is a place called the Void, and it is utterly devoid of light or sound. Few things can survive continued exposure to it."  
"You seem to know a lot about it," the younger boy mused.  
Loki nodded haltingly. "I-I do. I fell...kind of, and landed here."  
"Fell from what?" Zatanna asked.  
The young god looked at the ground and took a shaky breath. "It is a long story that spans my extensive lifetime. One I do not think can be told in the short time we have. In essence, I fell from the Bifrost into the Void. I was there for what felt like centuries but were only a few months. I think... Actually, I believe I fell into a parallel dimension."  
"Wait, /what/?" Zatanna threw her arms in the air. "Where did that come from?"  
Loki shrugged. "You did not seem to know anything about the New Mexico incident, and, as you seem to have access to most, if not all, form of human communication, you would have were it to have happened here. Also, while in the Void, I remember colliding violently with something and feeling as if I were being torn apart. I believe it was at that point I came across a dimensional rip." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "Perhaps I left half of my consciousness behind. It seems to be a distinct possibility."  
Zatanna and Robin were looking at him with wide eyes. "What New Mexico incident?" the magician asked quietly after a few seconds of stunned silence.  
"Hey, you guys coming?" came Kaldur's shout. They hadn't realized they'd stopped. As they ran to catch up, Robin repeated his teammate's question.  
"At his coronation, my brother, Thor, made a rash decision. My father banished him to Midgard, or, more specifically, New Mexico. In short, he fell in love with a mortal, earned his reentry into Asgard, and caused a lot of property damage." Loki smiled wryly. He'd helped create the property damage.  
"Yeah, we'd probably have noticed if the god of thunder showed up here," Zatanna reasoned.  
Loki nodded. Robin opened his mouth to say something, but ended up walking into Kaldur, who had frozen in his tracks. Just ahead was the rip, and it seemed to be expanding as a large, armored, worm-like creature forced its way through. The older heroes attacked it with all of their might, but its armored hide protected it. Loki felt a rush of wind, and suddenly Wally was at his side.  
"Friend of yours?" the speedster asked.  
"Hardly," Loki replied. "Although it comes from the same dimension I do, or at least another parallel one."  
Wally gave the shorter boy a look that clearly said 'we'll talk later', then rushed off to rejoin Artemis in aiding the Flash.  
"Robin, Zatanna, help Batman," Kaldur ordered. "Loki, with me. We will be helping my king." The water-powered boy clenched his tattoo-covered arms, grabbed Loki's wrist, and all but dragged him to the side of a blond, bearded man wearing what appeared to be a shirt made of scales.  
"Hello, Aqua Lad, who's the kid?" the man grunted, punching the face of the lizard-like creature whose fellows seemed to be coming through the rip with the force of an army.  
"This is Loki. He has limited magic and no prior experience, but Batman reasoned that any help is welcome against...whatever these are." As if to emphasize his point, Kaldur used his water magic to cut of the head of a creature that had almost snuck up on Loki. The young god gritted his teeth. He had let his guard down for a second; that would not happen again. Without missing a beat, he pulled a knife from his pocket dimension and let it fly. It hit the eye of a creature about to attack Kaldur. Then, without turning, he stuck another in the chest of a creature that had attempted to sneak up on him.  
"'No prior experience', eh?" The blond man chuckled. His laughter died on his lips as a shadow fell across the group. Creatures and heroes alike froze as it came. It was the creature Loki had seen earlier, in Batman's picture. It looked even more terrifying up close. Before anyone could move, it was suddenly in front of Loki and seizing him by the throat, effortlessly hoisting the boy into the air. Kaldur and the other man were frozen in shock, unable to do anything but watch. Beneath the creature's cloth-covered eyes, its mouth was twisted into a grotesque leer. It laid a pale, sickly hand on Loki's forehead and the young god, unable to do anything but squirm weakly in a vain attempt to get free, was unprepared when his mind was assaulted. The presence forced his consciousness down and he collapsed limply.

_Images flashed through Loki's head. He was on Midgard...bending others to his will...an item he was after called the tesseract...unleashing a green rage monster on innocent victims...throwing a poor man out of a tower...fighting the creatures...no, he was their leader...they were called the Chitauri, he saw...and then he was fighting Thor...  
Why would he do that?  
**(Because you're a monster)**  
There was something in his head...another presence...he knew it, it had spoken to him after he fell, told him what he needed to know...it had helped him...so why was it doing this?  
What is it?  
**(I am the Other, servant of Thanos, suitor of Death)**  
So many memories...of hurting and killing without reason...but they weren't real, right?  
**(They are. This world you have built around yourself is fake)**  
Not true, Zatanna and the others are family...  
**(You have no family, monster. They cast you out)**  
Not true, not true, he had a new family here, lies, lies, lies..._

"Lies!" Loki shouted, eyes jerking open. A powerful blast of pure magic launched the creature—the Other, his memory told him, or at least the memory of the part of him that had been on his original universe. If he thought about it—of course, there was no time to think on a battlefield. He'd think later.  
"Are you alright?" Kaldur's worried face had somehow ended up leaning over him. He hadn't noticed he'd fallen.  
"I am perfectly fine," the young god grunted, pushing himself to his feet. Kaldur lay a hand on his shoulder to steady him. Loki looked up at the giant, flying worms the heroes seemed unable to defeat. With a jolt, he recalled something his counterpart on that other dimension had seen: a man dressed in a suit of iron firing a blast into the mouth. That seemed to be the only way they could be taken down, unless this universe somehow managed to procure a green rage monster.  
"Aim for the mouth!" Loki shouted up at the super-powered beings above him. He felt a rush of satisfaction as his suggestion was immediately put into practice. One worm went down, and then another.  
The young god then turned to the rip itself. Creatures were still swarming in, but his newly acquired memories knew how to to stop them: the same man of iron had fired a missile into their home planet-like station, effectively wiping them all out. The portal had then been closed by a shutoff built into the tesseract. But there was no tesseract powering this portal, was there? He would have to find another—  
Loki's internal rambling was cut off abruptly by the Other's hand seizing the back of his costume. He spun around as best he could, only to have his head engulfed in the creature's vice-like grip. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Kaldur and the other man had been knocked forcibly away.  
Something was thrust at the young god's chest, and he instinctively grabbed it. When he looked down to see the scepter (the evil, soul-sucking scepter) his counterpart had been forced to use when attacking this same city, it was already too late.  
The last thing Loki saw before he was forcibly sucked into this thoughts again was a wry smile splitting the Other's gruesome face.

_No, no, this wasn't good, he had to get back and stop the portal—  
**(Let them come, little monster. End it)**  
No, his friends were there—  
**(You have no friends. You are a monster, a freak. They only feel sorry for you)**  
That wasn't true, Zatanna and Wally and Robin knew his secret, and they didn't hate him—  
**(They do not yet know all of it. How do you think they will react when they discover you have tried to kill a whole race, and that you killed your own brother? What then, little monster?)**  
That was the past, he hadn't been thinking straight, now he was better and he was so, so sorry—  
**(Do not fight it, Frost Giant. Let it give you the power to take it all back)**  
No, the scepter would only take over his mind like it had done to him in that parallel universe—  
**(Let it. Succumb. Let it use you as a vessel to destroy those who stand in our way, and you will rule this realm)**  
But he didn't want to rule, only wanted to go home and hang out with the team—  
**(You have no home, little monster. You are neither Frost Giant nor Aesir. These mortals pity your loss, but once you show you are not worthy of their pity, they will throw you out. No place will take you in, you must take a place yourself)**  
No, but Zatanna had—  
**(Let it take you over, Frost Giant scum)**  
No—  
He couldn't—  
Don't betray your friends—_

_..._

_**(You are mine now, little monster)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_IMPORTANT NOTICE: Since I'm including the Chitauri, I'm going to switch this to an Avengers/YJ crossover next chapter._**

* * *

Zatanna used a simple spell to send a creature flying, turned to send another to the same fate, an tripped over a body.  
No, not a body: it was Aquaman, and he was just unconscious.  
"Rob! Cover me!" the magician shouted at the boy. A swift nod was all she received in response, but she knew her request was being heeded.  
Zatanna used a quick spell and Aquaman's eyes flew open. They widened for a second and he jerked sideways as if looking for something, but calmed down with a sigh of defeat.  
"You okay?" she asked worriedly.  
"Yeah." He coughed. "Kaldur and Loki were with me. That...thing tossed me aside, so I don't know what happened..."  
Zatanna patted his hand, and looked behind him. She could see Kaldur lying on the ground a few feet away, but her immediate attention was drawn to Loki. The young god was holding a short, spear-like scepter glowing with a blue jewel, and staring at it as if it were inscribed with the answers to the universe. His costume was torn in several places and his mask had fallen off. The creature that Batman had showed them, the thing that had come out of the rip first, was standing at Loki's shoulder, but the boy didn't seem to notice. Similing a cold, malevolent smile, it lay a hand on Loki's shoulder, but he remained unmoving. Suddenly it looked up, its bandage-covered eyes seeming to meet Zatanna's for a moment. Then she averted her gaze as Loki began to move.  
First he shut his eyes tightly, clenching his fists around the scepter and shaking his head sharply. Then his defiant look became more forlorn, and he seemed to slouch all of a sudden. Suddenly he gave a defeated sigh, and a change overcame him. A cold smile pulled at his lips, and when he looked up and his eyes met Zatanna, they were ice cold. With a jolt, she realized they were not the deep green she remembered, but an icy blue. Loki gave a small laugh, wrapped his hands securely around the scepter, and strode off onto the gathering dust.  
With a shuddering laugh that sent chills down Zatanna's spine, the creature vanished with a sound of rustling paper.  
The magician glanced worriedly at Aquaman, but he assured her he'd be okay, so she got up and hurried after Loki. After a yard or so she noticed Robin at her side, eyes under his mask wide in horror.  
"What's gotten into him?" the young acrobat asked, using a flying kick to knock a creature out of their path. Zatanna shook her head, as mystified as her teammate. All she knew was that he wasn't in control of himself, and that it was somehow the creature's fault.  
Without warning, one of the creatures' flying vehicles soared overhead, almost hitting the pair of young heroes. With a gasp of shock, the magician recognized Loki as the driver; a sharp intake of breath from Robin beside her told her he had seen as well. The young god turned, caught Zatanna's eye, and _laughed_. She was reminded uncomfortably of the events at Cadmus (had it only been about an hour ago?): Loki, green eyes wide and half-crazed, attacking his friends because he believed them to be illusions. Zatanna shook her head to dispel the images, feeling a pang of sympathy for the poor boy. Even though he was almost a thousand years old, she couldn't help but think of him as her little brother, and it hurt her to see him broken like this.  
Robin grabbed her arm and yanked her after him, effectively pulling her out of her trance. He had knocked a creature off one of its vehicles and had somehow managed to figure out how to operate it in the space of two seconds. With expert keystrokes, the boy guided the motorcycle-like flying thing and in the direction Loki had gone. The pair were soon above the dust clouds caused by the fight below, and could now see Loki's vehicle up ahead. Robin poured on the speed and they had soon caught up, as Loki was going at a more leisurely pace. As the magician's vehicle pulled up alongside, Loki jumped off his own, clearing the dust clouds as he went. The creatures froze in what seemed like reverence, while the heroes froze in horror at the falling boy. Zatanna shouted wordlessly, preparing to jump stupidly after him, but Robin grabbed her arm before she could. He wheeled their vehicle around to avoid the debris that flew from where Loki's ride had collided with a building and angled it downward after their friend.  
As he drew steadily closer to the ground, Loki twisted so that his feet were facing the ground and touched down gently, as if he had hopped off a step rather than jumped from a vehicle over twelve stories in the air. A sharp, golden glow overtook him, forcing eyes to be averted from the sight. When the glow cleared, Loki was clothed in golden armor, complete with a horned helmet on his head. His staff, too, had grown: where it had once been the length of Zatanna's arm, it was now as tall as Loki. Even though he still held the form of a small, slim boy, his armor and regal posture made him seem more like the young god he was. Robin pulled the vehicle to a stop several meters above their friend's head, waiting to see what he would do.  
"Mortals!" Loki shouted, voice carried across the battlefield as if by magic.  
"What does he mean by 'mortals'?" M'Gann had caught sight of Robin and Zatanna and had flown over to hover beside them.  
"Exactly what it sounds like," Robin replied evenly, his response clearly conveying that he'd tell her later.  
Loki pounded the butt of his staff on the cracked concrete, the eerie glow of the blue gem at the point glowing brightly for a second. "I am Loki of Asgard, and I have been burdened with a glorious purpose! I will liberate you from these miserable lives, and take my rightful place on the throne!"  
With a growl, Superman snapped out of the trance the young god seemed to have put everyone under and flew at almost the speed of sound to attack Loki. The boy calmy intercepted him with his staff, but instead of spearing the man of steel, it lightly tapped his chest. Superman's eyes went wide and his flight faltered, but he quickly righted himself and alighted at Loki's side. He stood stiffly, arms crossed over his chest, more like a bodyguard than a would-be attacker.  
"What is the meaning of this?" Batman demanded.  
Loki laughed his half-crazed laugh once more. "You sorrowful excuses for heroes. You could not even save your planet from invaders. You are lucky I wish to take up the mantle as your king."  
"Are you crazy?" The familiar yellow-and-red blur of Kid Flash sped to a stop next to Superman, who glared. "I thought we were friends."  
The young god smiled wryly. "I have no friends." He brought his staff around in a deadly arc that Zatanna knew would not do to Wally what it had done to the hero who had confronted Loki earlier. No, this was aimed to kill. The magician closed her eyes, and it was Robin who wordlessly shrieked this time.  
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Zatanna dared open her eyes. Loki was standing stiffly in front of Wally, shaking slightly, staff mere inches from the speedster's heart. Wally was frozen with shock, staring down at the boy he had called a friend. Loki looked up at the redheaded boy, eyes wide with fear and horror, gasping for breath, and then he was gone, vanishing as abruptly as if he had never been there. Wally swayed on his feet, and suddenly the Flash was at his nephew's side, supporting him.  
Without warning, the creatures began to attack again. Robin guided the vehicle to the ground, and the Flash helped load Wally onto it before rushing back into battle. The young acrobat launched into the air again, swerving to avoid shots as he headed away. Every so often he would glance worriedly back at Zatanna, who crouched over Wally and gently consoled him.  
Robin stopped the vehicle next to a zeta tube and helped Zatanna support Wally into it. When they arrived back at the cave, Wally collapsed into the couch. Robin slumped next to him, sighing deeply. Zatanna buried her head in her hands.  
"Why?" she whispered. "Why would he do this?"  
"He almost killed me," Wally muttered. The wide-eyed, terrified look still hadn't left his face.  
"Something's off here." Robin stroked his chin. "That doesn't seem like the Loki we know. And what happened with Superman?"  
"It was almost like his mind was—" Zatanna broke off and snapped her fingers. "That's it! Mind control. _That's_ why Loki's acting this way."  
"Are you sure?" Wally asked, turning his head to look the magician in the eye. "He almost killed me, Zatanna. Twice. What if he's really evil?"  
"Don't say that!" Zatanna growled.  
Robin frowned. "Last time, It seemed like Cadmus was torturing him with images of us doing bad things to him. It got into his head that we were out to get him. And, remember, he didn't stab you; his spear-thing stopped before it touched you—"  
"That spear-thing," Zatanna gasped. "It was given to him by that creature, the one with the cloth. I think...what if it's controlling him, somehow, making him do all that bad stuff?"  
"But what if it isn't?" Wally demanded. "What then? Are you just going to let him try to take over the planet and say you didn't stop him because you _think_ he was being controlled? Huh?" The speedster took a deep breath. "I hate to say it, but we can't take a chance like that. We'll have to treat him like an enemy."  
"No!" Zatanna shouted, voice cracking. "I know what I saw! He was being controlled!"  
"Sorry, Z," Robin murmured, eyes downcast. "We can't take chances here."  
The magician threw her arms into the air and stormed to the door. "You guys are _idiots_!"  
"Where are you going?" Wally called after her.  
"To talk some sense into Loki."  
"Wait, wait, wait." The speedster was suddenly in front of Zatanna, blocking her exit. "We can't let you risk your life like that." He glanced over her shoulder at Robin. "Loki—we don't know how much he's being...controlled. What if he doesn't recognize you as a friend?"  
"He recognized you," Zatanna hissed. "He's fighting it; that's why he didn't kill you. He couldn't bring himself to."  
"Z." Suddenly Robin was beside her, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's just talk things over first. Try to figure out what's up, alright?"  
The magician slumped into her friend's hand. "Okay."  
The trio gathered around the coffee table.  
"Okay," Robin began. "First off. Wally, after we'd separated before the battle, Loki told us a theory he had about this rip-thing. He said the creatures came from a place called the Void, which is in a dimension parallel to ours. He's pretty sure he comes from the same dimension as they do."  
"What made him think that?" Wally asked.  
"Well," Zatann said, "he mentioned some kind of incident in New Mexico that involved his brother coming to Earth. He said that we would have heard about it if it had happened, so...parallel universes. He didn't have time to tell us the full story, but he did say he fell off the edge of the Bifrost into the Void." Wally winced in sympathy for the young god. That had probably hurt. "Loki told us that, somewhere in the Void, he collided with something and felt like he was being ripped apart."  
"What if his personality was being ripped apart?" Wally asked suddenly. "Maybe that's why he's a kid now. Somehow, the Void and his collision with what was probably the entrance to our world separated him into two halves: what he was like as a kid, and, probably, what he was like as an adult. I...have a feeling it was very different."  
Robin's eyes widened. "That sounds reasonable. But then...what happened to the other half of Loki?"  
Zatanna had a sinking feeling she knew. "I think...I think it fell to the Earth on _his_ dimension."  
Wally frowned. "This _sounds_ like it could be right, but we won't know for sure until we find out what happened on Loki's Earth. And he can't tell us because he's on a rampage."  
"From the way he said he fell off that Bifrost, I think he does something unspeakably bad as an adult," Zatanna suggested. "Like, it was so horrible he was pushed off the side of it as punishment."  
"If that's the case," Robin muttered with a dry smile, "Asgard has some pretty harsh punishments."  
"Well, we won't get farther until we know the whole story, and we can't find that out until this mess is resolved," Wally said, stretching. "So let's focus on that."  
"We should get the staff away from Loki," Zatanna suggested. "If he's being controlled, it'll break the spell, and if he's...not, he won't have a weapon. Well, except for his magic."  
Wally nodded in agreement, but, before he could say anything, there came a ripping sound from behind them. The trio spun around to see a rip like the one in Manhattan open up over the training center. It was small, though, barely taller than Batman, unlike Manhattan's, which had been the size of a two-story building. It opened slightly wider and a man stepped out. He was tall and muscular, with long, blond hair and a slight beard. He wore sliver armor that was accentuated with a red cape. In his belt was a large, silver hammer. He looked around before booming, "Where are the inhabitants of this building?"  
"Um, that's us," Robin called. The eyepieces in his mask were narrowed, as if he recognized the man but wasn't sure where from.  
The man turned to see the three heroes who were almost hiding behind the couch. "I am Thor of Asgard. Who are you?"

* * *

**_I'm so sorry for the wait. Please don't kill me!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Zatanna, Wally, and Robin stared at the god who was currently eating a large sandwich, oblivious to his audience. They had told him their names, assured him they weren't evil, and then, awkwardly, offered him food, because it had seemed to be the least violent course of action.  
"Maybe he knows what happened at the Bifrost and then on his Earth," Robin suggested. "He is Loki's brother, after all."  
"Yeah," Wally agreed, frowning as Thor took a large bite of the sandwich he made using most of the food in the kitchen. The speedster had been planning to do the same before all these Norse gods had shown up, and now he couldn't. "Or, he might be from some _other_ parallel universe in which he's evil."  
"Doubtful," Zatanna replied, "But we'll still keep our guards up."  
"Let's just ask him what he wants," Robin suggested.  
"Hey, um, Thor?" Wally called.  
The thunder god shoved the last bits of his meal into his mouth and looked up. "Yes?"  
"Uh, can you tell us why, exactly, you're here?"  
Thor looked down at his empty plate. "Heimdall the All-Seeing was watching the Chitauri, but they have recently gone beyond his sight. There are a few who know how to hide from his sight, but none who know how to go beyond it. He sent me after them to see how."  
"Chitauri?" Robin asked. "What's that?"  
The god tapped his chin, trying to think of how to explain it. Robin was seized by a sudden idea, and brought up a picture of what seemed to be the leader—the linen-wrapped creature that had attacked Loki—and one of the creatures it had brought. Thor saw and his frown deepened. "Yes, those are they, but their leader... This is worse than I thought."  
"What is it?" Zatanna asked worriedly.  
"That is the Other, a servant of Thanos. They are of the deepest evil: Thanos kills ruthlessly in hopes he may win the favor of his lover, Death, and the Other is his loyal servant. If he himself has come, then..." Thor shuddered.  
"And...do you know what this is?" Robin asked, pulling up another picture, this time of Loki's staff.  
"Yes," the god replied. "That was the staff used by my brother, Loki, when he tried to take over Midga—Earth." He looked sad for a moment before regaining his composure.  
The three young heroes looked at each other in horror. So _that_ was what Loki's counterpart in Thor's universe had done: tried to take over their planet. Somehow, they couldn't imagine their friend doing that, which seemed to support Wally's theory of split personality.  
Robin took a deep breath. "What...happened to Loki?"  
The god of thunder shook his head sadly. "He is serving punishment for his crimes. For what reason do you ask?"  
"I don't know how to say this," Wally began, "but Loki's kind of...here."  
"What?" Thor gasped. "He has escaped?"  
"Um, no," Zatanna replied, holding up her hands to placate their guest. "Wally has a theory..."  
And so the three heroes told Thor of their suspicions, and then about what had transpired while Loki was with them.  
"So, we think Loki's personality split in half when he fell through a rip in dimensions, and now he might be influenced by the Other to act like he did in your dimension," Wally concluded.  
Thor nodded ruefully. "Perhaps. The way you speak of him and how he acted around you did seem more attuned to his younger years. And, come to think of it, he was filled with hate and anger on Earth."  
"Can you tell us what Loki was like before he fell off the Bifrost, and then after, when he attacked our planet?"  
With an expression of apprehension, sadness, and maybe even a little guilt, Thor began his tale. He told of his silver-tongued little brother, who had once dogged the footsteps of the thunder god and his friends even after they expressed their dislike of his presence. He detailed the events leading up to and including his botched coronation and subsequent banishment. With a heavy heart, he explained how Loki fell from the Bifrost and the words their father said to his poor, misguided son that the younger prince took in entirely the wrong way. Heart sinking further, Thor concluded his story with Loki's attack on earth and then his imprisonment in an Asgardian jail.  
When the god of thunder finished his tale, the three heroes were staring at him, eyes wide.  
"I...am unsure what caused this change in my brother—" Thor's comment was cut off by an indignant Wally.  
"You didn't know what caused him to break down? Really? Because I think even I do."  
Thor furrowed his brow. "You do? You were not there; how could you know the cause for Loki's sudden change?"  
"It wasn't sudden," Zatanna all but growled. "Even from the shortened version you told, I got the feeling he was going to snap from the beginning."  
The thunder god shook his head. "I do not understand. Why would he...snap, as you say? He always seemed perfectly content to drift at the edges of our adventures with his tricks. It got annoying after a while, always having him around, but I let him join anyway. Is that not what a good brother would have done?"  
Robin's mouth fell open and the accusation was out before he could stop it: "How can you be so _stupid_?" Well, as long as he had gotten started, he might as well finish. Without waiting for a reply, he went on, "You don't even realize what you did, do you? I'm guessing there weren't any others your age in Asgard. No wonder Loki followed you around: you were the only ones he could hang out with. And then you just brush him off like he means nothing. And that whole thing with your dad? Looks to me like he let you off easy while Loki suffered the blame for, like, _everything that went wrong_. And I'm not even going to start about what happened at the Bifrost. Yeah, great work, dad."  
Thor's face clouded with anger. "You _dare_ insult Odin?"  
"Uh, yeah. I do. Especially when he treated one of my friends like a scapegoat for over eight hundred years. And you, too, buddy. Loki always looked up to you. Don't you get that? So when you started getting annoyed when he hung out with you and your friends, he started to feel like he wasn't good enough. You were his role model, Thor, so blowing him off all the time like that...it hurts."  
Tears seemed to well up in the eyes of the thunder god, but he quelled them for the time being. He couldn't help but admit the small bird-boy was right, as were his two friends. Perhaps he _had_ been a tad mean to Loki when they were younger. But he could hardly help the fact there were no others their age in Asgard and that Loki was more skilled with a knife, a cowardly weapon, than a sword. Yet, when he made this point known to the heroes, their reactions surprised him.  
Robin swore. "That's the most messed-up logic I've ever heard, and I deal with the Joker on a daily basis."  
Zatanna had to be reminded that heroes don't kill before the murderous anger faded from her face.  
"A wise man once said, 'Knives are only for the bravest and quickest fighters. They don't have the reach or power of a sword, but they're easy to conceal and they can find weak spots in your enemy's armor. It takes a clever warrior to use a knife,'" Wally quoted darkly.  
Thor blinked, confused by his hosts' reactions. "I did not... I mean no disrespect. I apologize."  
Zatanna narrowed her eyes. "It's not us you should be apologizing to."  
Robin frowned suddenly. "That's right, Loki. What're we going to do about him?"  
"First off, get the scepter," Wally replied smoothly. "That was the general plan, right?"  
"And then what?" Zatanna asked.  
Robin shrugged. "I guess we'll decide that when we get the scepter from him, then."  
"I am afraid I must take Loki back to Asgard once he is no longer a threat," Thor spoke up gloomily.  
"Oh, no, you don't," Zatanna hissed. "He's staying right here. With his friends. You go back to the Loki in your own dimension and have a nice, long talk that involves you apologizing several times, okay?"  
The god of thunder cowered under the magician's murderous gaze, but nodded. "I dearly hope he is not deceiving you. You are good friends."  
"Wait, what?" Wally exploded. "You think he forces us to think this way? That's sick. And impossible. And improbable. And—" he cut off as Robin whacked him on the back of his head.  
"Yeah, no, he's not deceiving us. I know that for certain," the acrobat replied calmly.  
A sharp crackle broke into the resulting awkward silence, and Robin reached a hand to his ear. After a few moments, he lowered it, looking faintly bemused. "Bats wants to know where the heck we've gone."  
"Any word on Loki?" Wally asked worriedly.  
Batman's protege inclined his head. "Not really. He's just been flying around with Superman and just...watching. He hasn't done anything." To emphasize his point, he pulled up a picture of Loki, who had found himself another Chitauri vehicle and was observing the goings-on from a lofty angle, staff hanging limply at his side, with Superman stoically playing bodyguard at his left.  
Thor made a small sound in his throat. Even with all this talk of Loki, it was still quite another thing to actually see visual proof he has here. As he stared at the frozen image of his brother, he noticed something off. "Is there a reason my brother seems...smaller in this image?"  
Zatanna let out a slightly hysterical giggle. "I guess we forgot to mention that Loki's now sixteen in human years."  
"Possibly another side affect of that rip," Wally added.  
"We should maybe go back and fight the Chitauri before Bats comes and drags us," Robin suggested, then looked pointedly at Thor.  
The god of thunder stood up suddenly, knocking the remains of his sandwich to the ground. (Wally let out a forlorn cry.) "I will help my new friends smite these vile creatures!" he announced, thrusting his hammer into the air.  
"I wouldn't call us friends," Zatanna muttered dryly, scowling.  
Thor either didn't her her or didn't care. He stood in his heroic pose for a few seconds before awkwardly looking around. "Where is your mode of transport?"  
"Zeta tubes," Wally replied simply, leading the way.  
The resident god gasped as the tubes began to whirr. "It is just like the Bifrost!"  
"Yeah." Robin nodded. "They were modeled after your rainbow bridge." He put a hand to his ear with a mischievous smirk. "Hey, Bats, we're on our way, and we brought reinforcements." There was a pause as the obvious question was asked. "You'll see. We'll be there in a sec."  
Zatanna stepped in front of Thor as the god moved to follow Robin and Wally through the tubes. "Listen," the magician commanded, "I know you want to see Loki, but leave him to us, okay?" At Thor's protest she shook her head. "He's not in his right mind right now, so it'd be best if he didn't see you at all. Let us handle him." With a resigned sigh, the god of thunder agreed, and the two went through the zeta tube together.  
Batman was standing in front of the old phone booth that housed the tube when Thor and Zatanna emerged. He was in the process of lecturing Wally and Robin on why they shouldn't have gone to the cave, and didn't even look up to see their guest.  
"Batman, this is Thor," the magician announced. The dark knight broke off and looked quizzically at the god.  
"First Loki, now Thor. Is there some kind of theme here? And you said you were bringing reinforcements."  
"This is our reinforcements," Robin told his mentor with a smirk.  
"Just him?" Batman was not amused.  
"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard. It is a pleasure to meet you." the god of thunder shifted his hammer to his other hand and extended his left to shake. Batman scowled, ignoring the hand.  
"There's a long and complicated explanation to this, and we promise we'll tell you after, but there's kind of a battle going on. Thor's fought these guys before, so he can help," Wally put in.  
"You fought these creatures before?" Batman asked.  
"Yes," the god replied. "I come from another dimension; the same one the Chitauri do. Trust me, though, when I say I am not on their side."  
Batman nodded sharply. "We'll trust you. For now. But any wrong moves and you're out. Got it?" Thor nodded. With a sweep of his cape, the dark knight strode to his jet and slid inside. He looked expectantly at Robin, but the acrobat shook his head. The door of the plane closed and it lifted into the air. Thor spun his hammer and flew after it.  
"Now for Loki," Wally said sadly.  
Zatanna put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry. We'll fix this, and everything will go back to normal." At Wally's disbelieving frown, she went on, "Tell you what: after this is all over, let's take Loki out and show him all the cool stuff Earth has to offer."  
"Yeah." Robin was suddenly at Wally's other side. "We can take him to the arcade and then the beach. How's that sound?"  
"Sounds good," Wally replied, smiling slightly. With new resolve in his eyes, he looked up. "Let's get that stupid stick from Loki fast so we get there before the arcade closes."

* * *

**_Sorry for the delay. Life happened.  
_**

**_The quote Wally used was from Rick Riordan's _Demigod Diaries. **


End file.
